Halogen lamp…it buuuuurns!!~~

This thing makes more heat than a space heater! @_@

Howdy Everyone,

UV radiation, eye melting brightness, skin burning radiant heat….yea, what’s not to like? @_@ I stopped off by Office Depot earlier today to check out some desk lamps and I was hoping for something nice that wasn’t going to melt my wallet. I tried out the various lamps they had on display and really wanted to get one of the natural sunlight type lamps, but I just didn’t have the $60+ to blow on one. Plus they are all really ugly in design. After about 10mins of looking, I decided to settle on the 50W halogen lamp above for $40. (Can be found here: HERE) It comes with a high and low setting and I have to admit that it produces a very nice and bright light on both (the high setting being brighter and whiter) and I like the design, but the lamp itself scares me a little.

First of all, the instructions tell you that it emits UV radiation, which made me a little nervous, but it does come with a thick piece of UV filtering glass, which makes me feel a little bit safer….I think. Secondly, the thing emits a insane amount of heat within a few minutes of turning it on. It feels like I am in direct sunlight when I put my hand within a foot from the bulb. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like getting the thought of having my hair so close to the thing when I do work on my desk. O.O Third, unless the light is in no way shining directly on any part of my eyeball, it makes my eyes uncomfortable at first. I have to either stay looking down at my desk or lower the lamp to where the bulb is blocked from my eyes by the cover. It gets a bit annoying.

In spite of all that, I am actually more pleased than displeased with the light. It provides a very bright white light when its on the high setting, and is by far better than a standard incandescent bulb and makes drawing, reading, and doing schoolwork (tested doing these when I hooked it up) much more comfortable because of the type of light. I guess I just need to get used to using the light. Hmm, I just sat with it on while typing this and my eyes comfortably adjusted to the light by this point. So it isn’t really as annoying as I stated above.

To sum it up, it is a nice lamp for the price and it serves its purpose for what I am using it for. I would actually recommend it for use for anything from reading to arts and crafts. Oh and it works as a nice fill light for taking photos of figures! ^^

My Desk Version 2.0

Finally, a REAL computer desk!

Howdy Everyone,

So after over a year of owning my current computer, I finally got a brand new desk for it. The total process from starting to take apart my old set-up till finishing my new one, took about 9 hours….no joke. I honestly don’t know WTF took me so long, but it’s done and I am satisfied. I am sooooooo happy with it, because although it may not be the most expensive and fancy desk, it is 100x better than my old “desk”. What old “desk” you may ask? Well here is what I have been using for about a year and a half, until now.

T.V. tray plus wooden entertainment center shelf= ...well a pretty good desk actually. 😛

The figures were actually a more recent addition, only having started collecting…umm, last month I think? 😛 I basically jammed all my computer pieces and games and whatnot into a little 2 1/2 by 3 foot area. Not the most comfortable set-up, but it served its purpose. I had taken the PC tower out already before taking this shot, but just imagine it to the right of the left leg of the “desk”. Practically no leg room, but I somehow delt with it. @_@

Cords, games, books, subwoofer, wall=no leg room. >.>

My feet always unplugged the cords when I wasn’t paying attention. Sudden unplugging of the mouse and/or keyboard during WoW wasn’t always the funnest thing. >.<

My cat Sulu (yes, the Star Trek Sulu, and yes, I am am a nerd :P) wanted to help me out during the whole process. Frustratingly, every time I left him to a task, it would never be done when I came back…that slacker…

Lower end system, and yet can run most games on full blast.

Decided to stop procrastinating and give my machine the much overdue maintenance/cleaning it needed. I’m surprised my CPU hasn’t melted from all the crud that was caked on the heat sink. O.O

No sissy spray-dusters for me. URRRGH! *flex*

Forgot to pick up some of that convenient electronics spray cleaning stuff…so I had to do it the old fashion way. A little lung power and q-tips goes a long way. ^_^

The workshop(a.k.a. kitchen): where food and drink are just a step away! ^.^

I ended up moving everything into the better lit kitchen. Plus I didn’t want to wake anybody with all my clumsy dropping of metal parts. @_@ It was kind of cosy and allowed me to have everything I needed within an arms reach. 😀

All set up and ready to use by the next day!

I ended up finishing the desk around 2am or so and then got everything in place by around 4am. Don’t ask why it took that long, I don’t even know myself. I went to bed 30minutes later and woke up the next day to enjoy my new desk in all it’s glory and splendor…well, to enjoy my new desk at least. 😛

Mmmm, organized games. XD

The row of books and games really makes the desk seem more whole and now I can find what I want to play/read without searching through a big pile in a corner! YAY! =3

Pip-Boy. Nuff said. ^_^

Gotta love the slide out drawer.

I had a lot more pics of the desk, since so few don’t really do it justice, but my internet hates me, so I’ll stop here. ^_^

Pictures near the Lake

Howdy Everyone,

Sometimes I get bored and decide to walk down to the lake near my house and take some pictures. Usually it’s just shots of the scenery, people, or animals. I really need to get motivated to take some figure pics down there one of these days. Anyway, I just thought I would share some of the pics I have taken. Enjoy.

This is the area where most people can be found fishing.

Speaking of fishing. I wonder what kind of book he’s holding?

One of the ducks that frequents the lake. It has a pretty annoying quack. -_-

I like the contrast between nature and the gear.

I think this looks pretty neat, or maybe it’s just me. 🙂

I think he may have had a little accident when he saw me! XD

I love how the amber colored water looks in this shot.

I have A LOT of pics I would like to upload, but my Internet hates me when it comes to uploading, so I’ll just leave it at these for now. ^_^

~O.M.

The new Star Trek…pure win!

The New Crew

Howdy Everyone,

So after months of waiting and anticipation, I finally went and saw the new Star Trek film on Friday night. I didn’t really read up on who the cast was going to be playing or look at many trailers, since I felt I would go into this with as unbiased an opinion as I possibly could.  What I experienced was, to say the least, an epic adventure fit for fans off all ages.

Warning: Possible Spoilers

From the tragic opening, to the full crew finally coming together, to the heart-pounding ending, I was enthralled throughout the whole experience (and I call it an experience because it was more than just a movie for me), from beginning to end.

Going into the theater, I was more than skeptic about if I was going to see a grand Star Trek adventure unfold, or a supped-up visually appealing piece of crap. THANKFULLY, it wasn’t the latter. I decided to splurge for the $16 IMAX tickets, which for my budget is ungodly expensive for just a movie, but hey, it’s Star Trek, it was worth it. 😀 I decided to sit down in front, three rows down from the middle section where the people in wheelchairs go, and I even found a half-deflated beach ball sitting on the floor next to me lol. I scrapped comfort for experience, because the IMAX screen, being larger that a regular screen, made me have to look from left to right a few times to fully see what was going on. I would recommend this though, as you feel like you are more immersed in the film, with it being about 25ft. (at least where I was, I could have got closer) from your face. But enough about me, onto the movie.

I was hoping that since it was based off the original Star Trek, that they would try and bring back some of the well known things we love from the 60’s series to give us a more nostalgic feeling. The way they succeeded in doing this, was through input of well known sayings and good actors. Often throughout the movie, I was compelled to blurt out connections in characters to their 60’s counterparts before they even told me who the character was supposed to be. There were simple connections, such as when Kirk meets a young pretty black women, you immediately know that it is Uhura. There were also more complicated moments, such as when Kirk meets a man who rambles on about medical problems with going into space and then says(something like this), “..all I have are my bones.”, and it clicks: “bones”, medical jargon…Doctor McCoy! The actors also did well in portraying the personalities of their 60’s counterparts as well.

Among visual queues, many of the most well-known sayings were thrown in that made me smile. Things such as McCoy’s famous, “Dammit(although he left out “Jim”, which saddened me a bit), I am a doctor, not a *insert what hes not*.” Also , Scotty’s “I’m giving her all she got Captain.”, and let’s not forget, “Live long and prosper.”, said by none other than Leonard Nimoy himself. Speaking of Nimoy, he makes a quite long cameo appearance in the film, which was pretty neat to see.

The visual affect were quite stunning, and the space scenes were quite pleasing to the eye. I feel they did a good job in recreating the feel of Star Trek(although it didn’t have the cheesy feel that I like about the old show :P).  The outfits were more modernized, but still kept to the basic design of the originals. Phasers still looked small and wimpy, but got a nice visual upgrade. The make up for some of the aliens was quite nice, and expected of the technology of today. They also did a nice job of portraying the mix of future looking technology with present day looking technology while displaying the scenes on Earth. The sports car young Kirk drives is a good example, and also the area where he grows up. The back story of how the crew of the Enterprise came together was interesting, and was a nice take on events preluding to the time that the 60’s show take place in. The movie was surprisingly funny at times, and well written humor at that. Probably only 2 or 3 times did I truly laugh, but it was more than I expected going in. The sound quality was a definite upgrade as well.

On the other hand, there were a few things I didn’t enjoy about the movie. The whole main plot to the film, of Nero wanting revenge, seemed a little generic and played out. It was original-ish being Star Trek themed, but for the most part, typical and had a very foreseeable outcome. As well as Spock accidentally coming from the future and ending up helping save the day was a little corny, but it fit well into the story I suppose. Chekov’s Russian accent was a little over-the-top and although used to a degree of comedy, it would have been better left toned down a bit. I noticed a few cheesy lines here and there and some dull acting at spots, but not enough to ruin the movie more than a very minute amount. A few of the fight scenes could have been a little better choreographed, but it was a decent attempt, and far superior than that of the original. I can’t really think of much more to say badly about the film…although I’m sure my inner Trekkie is just killing anything I would have thought to mention…that bastard. XD

To wrap it up, the Star Trek was in it’s own way, an epic and joyful experience that I would gladly relive over and over again. As a Star Trek movie, it added what it needed to please the fans (me included), but didn’t add enough to truly make it a pinnacle in Star Trek culture. As a film, it was well written, well presented, and the sound was a joy to hear, especially in IMAX. To anyone who considering going, I can tell you that you will will NOT be disappointed!

~O.M.SCotty

Lucky~Star….what in the hell?

Howdy Everyone,

To celebrate my first ever blog post, I will be doing a “review” of the first episode of Lucky☆Star.
I know a million people have probably done reviews on this anime, and I am pretty late on hopping on the bandwagon of interest with this series, but to be honest…I am kind of glad I haven’t. -_-

Warning: If you really love this anime, then turn back now, because there be a cynical and less than praising review in the distance! Yar! Well, there be a little bit of praise as well. ^_^

Okay, so last night I was doing an ass-load of schoolwork because I am an epic procrastinator and halfway finished, I decide I would like to see what all the fuss is about with Lucky☆Star, since I am always seeing people buying figures of the characters. So I take a break, load up episode one, and get to watching. Now, this may be due to the fact that it was around 5am and I was half-zombified from lack of sleep and excruciatingly boring schoolwork…but!…Lucky☆Star came across as one of the most fucking retarded anime I have EVER seen!! I mean, don’t get me wrong here, I am not a mainstream anime otaku, hardly that, and I enjoy the smaller and stranger anime that are out there compared to all the mainstream ones, i.e. Bleach, Naruto, DBZ, One Piece, etc. And I have watched some damn well ridiculous anime before, like FLCL for instance, but they were at least MOSTLY entertaining and enjoyable to watch!

I will admit that the opening wasn’t all that bad. The song is pretty catchy and fun to listen to. Looking back, the OP was almost like a fully accurate foreshadowing of the ridiculousness of the episode…oh well, live and learn.

The anime started off all fine and dandy, and I was intrigued by the kawaii character designs. I though to myself as it showed Kona and Tsukasa on the track field, “okay, anime about the lives of some high school girls, this should be pretty funny and cute, as anime usually go.” Dear god was I wrong. From the moment the discussion about all the ways to eat/cook food began, I knew something was seriously wrong about this anime. I am no stranger to typical anime scenarios, and this conversation did not surprise me, I actually enjoyed it at first with the little pictures and character animations to go along with what they were discussing. Plus, the fact that were pulling food out of nowhere like there was some portal to the dimension-of-tasty-treats sitting under Kona’s desk…but I sure as hell didn’t expect it to go on for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES!!! @_@ No joke, I went back and timed it from the beginning to the end…4 minutes 57 seconds…that is just ridiculously too long! During this whole scene I thought:
One~The writers must have been REALLY short on ideas to waste about 1/4 of the anime on a conversation that was nothing but unfunny, poorly written nonsense.
Two~During said conversation, I felt the need to stab my own eyes out with a rusty pickaxe in frustration at having to sit through it…sadly, there were none in close reach. >.<

The anime goes on to just show typical nonsensical conversations between the girls, with no serious storyline, plot elements, or general direction to the show. It was, for all intents and purposes, a typical schoolgirl/comedy/random-shit-that-doesn’t-make-sense anime.

Me during most of this episode...

But wait! There are some good points to this anime, and I couldn’t call myself a reviewer of sorts without seeing both sides of the coin. Since I am kind of tired of typing and have to get some things done, I will show the pro’s of the show in a list format.

Pro’s:
~Some entertaining facial expressions that made me smile a bit.
~Very cute character designs and art. (what can I say, I am a sucker for kawaii girls in anime XD)
~
~Kona loves video games and anime and makes references to them during certain conversations. (One of the main reasons I found any enjoyment in this anime)
~…ummm…did I mention the magic portal to the dimension-of-tasty-treats?

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed my rant about Lucky☆Star! Even though I was compelled to tell my Saber figure to jam her swords into my eyes and ears during most of the episode, I will continue to give this anime a chance, and hopefully it will get better. Expect another rant about this, though maybe not so long, if I find anything else maddening about the anime. =P

~O.M.